Saying goodbye to a big chapter of my life

Summing up 18 years as a sports writer in the newspaper
business is something I wish I could do.

My passion for the business, my love of sports and the
wonderful people who have surrounded me are making that impossible.

On Sunday, almost two decades after writing my first story
for The Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre when I was barely 16 years old, I’ll cover
my last sporting event for The Morning Call, the place I called home for almost
10 years.

Tracking down sources, standing in the cold, the rain and
the blistering heat, the rush of filing a story --- time and time again
--- on a ridiculously tight deadline and being the owner of sleep habits that
would make many people cringe, have defined me.

Although those things won’t be part of my life much longer,
they will forever help tell the story of who I am because being a sports writer
will always be part of my identity. It’s in my blood.

Walking out of Citizens Bank Park on Sunday after the
Phillies host the Mets in the final home game this season will make me
emotional, no doubt.

I’ll think back to all the times my parents had to give me
directions to seemingly every school and field in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre
area so I could cover high school and college games while I was just a teenager
myself (keep in mind, that was years before Mapquest
or GPS’s).

I will say one more thank you ---there will never be enough
--- to my mom and dad for all the love and support they gave me while I worked
my way through Syracuse University, majored in newspaper and worked three jobs,
including at The Post Standard, the city’s daily paper. I couldn’t have made it
through without their encouragement and confidence --- which came with a hefty
phone bill for them.

I’ll have flashes in my head of Matt Michael, the former
Syracuse SkyChiefs beat writer who happens to be from the Lehigh Valley,
showing me when I was in college the best way to keep track of pitches. It’s
still the system I use today. It never lets me down me.

I’ll never forget climbing over the chain-link fence at
Hersheypark Stadium --- with a laptop --- because I was locked inside
after covering a state playoff game there.

I’ll always be grateful to former Morning Call sports editor
Terry Larimer, who hired me as a sports writer five months shy of my 25th
birthday. He once told me he didn’t think I’d be a professional beat writer. A
few years later after he retired, he shook my hand, told me I proved him wrong
and had some very kind words for the job I was doing.

Covering high school sports was my primary responsibility
for my first five years at TMC. There were far too many fun times during that
stretch for me to mention them all. Following
Wilson’s football team’s 16-0, PIAA championship season in 2006 when I watched D.J. Lenehan move into second place
on the state’s all-time passing list, and seeing Parkland’s girls basketball team
win the state title in 2005-06, are atop my list of highlights.

During my first year there, Terry also made me the Phillies
backup beat writer (2004), and it was something I did for the next five years
before taking over the beat after the 2008 season.

But before I took the beat over, I was at a crazy 16-inning
game against the Orioles in 2004 on fireworks night. I was there when Charlie
Manuel and Howard Eskin nearly came to blows in the clubhouse. And I was
standing next to one other backup writer who
exchanged some serious words with Brett
Myers that made me take a couple steps backward.

I was lucky enough to enjoy being at the ball park on Sept.
30, 2007, when the Phillies beat the Nationals and shocked the Mets
by coming back from being down seven games with 17 to play to win the N.L.
East. I learned after that game that a rain coat, to save your clothes from
beer and champagne, is a must. And I covered every 2008 home playoff game,
including the crazy rain-delayed, World
Series-clinching Game 5.

Then the real adventure
began.

The 2009 season started with me covering my first spring
training, where I felt overwhelmed and overjoyed. It concluded with me working
42 days in a row to cover the end of the regular season and all three rounds of
the playoffs, which took me to Denver, where we had a game snowed out, I almost
got arrested for loitering while trying to interview players in the lobby of
their hotel and we somehow stuffed seven writers in a car for the 30-minute
drive from downtown to the airport (let’s just say it was comical); Los
Angeles, where Martin Frank, an avid marathoner, slowed down for me while we
ran tons of hills to get to the Rose Bowl (yes, it’s huge); and New York, where
I laughed uncontrollably with other writers while eating at a diner at 2 a.m.

The 2010 and 2011 postseasons had me in Cincinnati, San
Francisco and St. Louis. Amidst all the work, we somehow squeezed in moonlight
bowling in Cincy and had some amazing dim sum in San Francisco and later ate
far too much Ghiradelli chocolate they gave us in the press box (at least they
were small pieces).

While the Phillies
played at home in 2010, we witnessed Roy Halladay’s no-hitter in the NLDS.
Three years later, I sometimes still can’t believe I got to see that.

The following year, I managed to get in a run in St. Louis
that had me standing in front of the Arch.

The Phillies didn’t make the playoffs in 2012 and they won’t
this year, but for the fifth year in a row, I got to have my dad at spring
training for a while with me. We had breakfast and dinner together every day
for five days. I loved seeing the smile on his face as we talked baseball. It’s
a small payback for all the times he made plans to take me to ball games as a
kid.

The press box, whether in Clearwater or Philadelphia, became
somewhat of a sacred place for me. It’s where we had no-hitter pools, teased
each other for reasons I can’t even always understand but somehow make me
laugh, and it’s where we debate our thoughts on baseball, steroid use, Showtime’s
Homeland, Hall of Fame votes, MVP and Cy Young candidate, Tweets that make us
laugh and the occasional talk of attractive women slips in (as Todd Zolecki
says, “Earmuffs, Mandy. Earmuffs.”).

Yes. I love baseball and I’ve loved this job. I will miss
doing research and the challenge of taking a big chunk of information and a
whole bunch of interviews and turning it into a story on deadline.

I will miss having a great seat for baseball games. I will
miss the way Ryan Howard can joke with anyone who walks through the clubhouse
doors. I will miss the media batting challenge during spring training.

Those who work in the organization, especially this spring
training, showed just how caring they are, namely Bonnie Clark, who, without
even being asked, took my hand and guided me through a difficult few days I was
going through.

On Wednesday, the team called everyone to the back of the
press box. I assumed it was for KWY reporter Tom Maloney, who was retiring. The
cake, though, had both our names on it. I fought back tears as I stood in front
of everyone and heard Bonnie’s kind words. And when Phillies president David
Montgomery came to my seat in the press box to shake my hand, thank me for my
dedication and to wish me luck, I was so touched. And in turn, I want say thank you to the entire PR staff, past and present, including Greg Casterioto, Craig Hughner, Deanna Sabec and Kevin Gregg.

Especially during my first five years at TMC, I got the
chance to spend a lot of time at 101 North Sixth Street, which meant I got to be around some great people from the
sports department, including Brad Krum, Keith Kaeppel, Roger Pence, Keith Groller, Ernie
Long, Jeff Schuler, Mark Wogenrich, Beth Hudson, Steve Miller, Andre Williams, Bill
Kline, Steph Sigafoos, Gary Blockus, Mike Miorelli, Mark Perner and Ben Reese.

There are others who I see every day at the ball park. No, I
don’t know last names, but I know they always have smiles on their faces:
Sharon, Brian, Patty, Frank and Jo Ann, who so happily cook for us, serve us
food every night and have been so friendly. Alex and Ed in the press box couldn’t
be easier to work with and they always had kind words for me after they heard
me on the radio.

This job gave me the chance to do some TV and radio which I
never would have otherwise done. I had no training in that field, but just
tried not to make a fool of myself. Thank you to Rhea Hughes, Michael Barkann, Matt
Leon, Angelo Cataldi, Ellen Kolodziej, Ken Selinger, Rachel Micali, Phil Allen
and Glen Macnow (to name a few) for your patience with me when I was on the
air.

But despite the touching stories I encountered as a high
school writer, all the cool moments I’ve had as a pro writer, I still come back
to one thing --- I met my husband, Tom, the love of my life, doing this job.
He’s edited more stories of mine than any editor I ever had. He’s given me more
advice on ledes, using too many quotes in stories and advised me on more story
angles than anyone. Bless his heart for listening to me often read my stories
out loud.

Tom is the best (unofficial) editor I’ve ever had. He’s
shown me patience when I’ve been frustrated with myself, encouraged when I’ve
been down, been awakened by me at 4 a.m. fearful of having made a mistake in a
story and has been my support system for more than 12 years.

Never could I have made it through this wild, crazy,
memorable journey without him.

My love. My rock.

Sports writing gave me our
love story.

Now it’s time for me to say good-bye to the sports writing part of
the love story, but I will never say good-bye to him or the memories of us
sharing our passion.

NOTE: I will be the associate director of university relations at East Stroudsburg University.

Nicely done Mandy, nicely done.
Assistant Director of Relations appears pretty tame when compared to the higher profile career you're leaving.
Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems that this quiet stationary position may better offer a still young woman the opportunity to start a family. Best of luck to you Mandy!!!

Sorry to see you leaving us Phillie fans Mandy, you did a great job covering the team. You'll be missing Clearwater when March rolls around, there's nothing like spring training in Florida after a long winter. Good luck in your new endeavor.

Sorry to see you leaving The Morning Call, but happy for you in your new, less frenetic job at ESU. I know how emotionally difficult it can be to leave the business, but you'll be surprised at how quickly you'll learn to love your new life.

Hey, Mandy, I just heard about this on my ride to Philadelphia for the Lafayette-Penn game today. I'm still a little surprised that you're ready to trade the hectic life for such stability. We didn't overlap much there because I retired soon after you came to TMC, but Terry made a great hire there and you were an asset to your profession and your gender. Here's hoping you can find enough to do in the middle of the night when you get lonely for one of those 18-inning games. HaHaHa. Have a wonderful time.